The University of Michigan and tech companies in the Ann Arbor region will have better access to federal intellectual property resources after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said Thursday it would open its first satellite office in Detroit in 2011.

U-M lobbied the federal government to choose Michigan for its first satellite office, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said on a conference call with reporters.

The office is the first of several satellite operations where U.S. patent examiners will seek to expedite assessment and approval of patent applications. The Detroit office will employ 100 high-paid patent experts, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said.

Stephen Forrest, U-M's vice president for research, said in a statement that the patent office would generate practical benefits for U-M scientists and engineers.

U-M filed for 151 patent applications in its 2009 fiscal year and 1,184 since 2001, according to U-M's Technology Transfer Office.

"The ability to do patent business at an office in Detroit will be a boon to the many educational institutions and knowledge-based industries in the larger region," Forrest said.

Locke has said one of his top priorities is reducing the patent office's three-year backlog of applications, a bureaucratic slog he described as a threat to American innovation. Companies and researchers should have a decision on their applications within a year, not three, he said.